Ep 3: Sharing Not Selling - the mindset shift that will help grow your yoga business
Words are hard but they do get easier when you think about sharing not selling.
The idea of selling feels gross.
But if you didn’t share what you know about yoga and how it can help others in this world, it would be a disservice to others.
Another way of thinking about this is “do you get upset when someone recommends something to you?”, like a book or a restaurant. No way! You listen to their recommendation and likely take them up on it.
And this is what you’re doing when you’re marketing your yoga business. You’re recommending things to your students (or potential students) that you know will help them.
You Have To Invite People To The Party!
This analogy is one you will hear often from me and it’s that you have to invite people to the party. You can plan the best party with the best food, entertainment, space, and music but if you don’t invite anyone, you will be partying alone. And this is the same for your yoga offerings.
“I know you have something special to share with your students! But you have to tell them about it and invite them to take part or else they won’t know.”
Focus on the Benefits, not the Features
This is the easiest way to help our words be more like sharing than selling. Let me explain:
We tend to focus on the features of our offerings when we’re talking with someone.
75 minute class
Held at ________ (location)
Those are the features!
But the benefit is not that it’s a 75 minute class or at a specific studio. The benefit is the student walking out of the class feeling relaxed, or enjoying some self-care with a restorative class, or power through and get energy out after a long day before going home to their family.
Focusing on the benefit of your class or workshop or private session will allow you to share about your offering and not feel so much like you’re selling it.
Exercise to Help Identify the Benefits
Make a list of your features first. You know all of this, it’s what’s in your mind right now. Then just beside that feature, identify the benefit. So if it’s a 75 minute class, what does the person receive in that 75 minutes? Remember, it’s not the number of minutes that benefits them, it’s what they receive in that time that does.
And my favorite question to help with this is:
What emotion does your dream student feel after enjoying your yoga offering?
Next Step:
Test this theory today. I want you to talk to 2 different people today about the same offering. With one person I want you to focus on the features, tell them all the details about the offering and see what questions they have and how the conversation goes. Then with the other person, I want you to focus only on the benefits and talk about emotions/feelings and what they will walk away. See how these conversations differ and take note of how the person in the conversation reacted to the words you said.
Until next time, give yourself permission to share not sell, and grace along the way!
Talk to you soon!
How well do you know your dream student?
Get my free guide on niching down to learn more about your dream student so you can have her/him filling your classes or workshops or online offerings!